Rise of freelancers

27/03/2017

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By Sandeep Kohli, talent leader, EY

Recent studies suggest that contingent workers represent as much as 30% of today's workforce, and will represent 40%-50% of the workforce by the end of the decade. This employee segment, more commonly referred to as ‘freelancers’ is what makes up a gig economy. In India, from a consulting perspective, freelancers make up approximately 15% of the workforce, and this will only increase in the coming years.

In today’s day and age, millennials are expressing a preference for part-time and more flexible working. It has thus become a business imperative to seamlessly integrate this contingent group into an organisation. Talent management, I believe, has an important role to play in this integration. It must streamline processes and introduce relevant policies to ensure stability within the organisation.

When it comes to processes, these must cover the freelancer’s entire lifecycle within an organisation – from the time they join, until the time their contracts are over. Managing a sizable contingent workforce can be challenging without comprehensive technology solutions – not just to keep a track of the employees, but to also provide the requisite support.

Workplace design is another crucial factor organisations must focus on. Workspaces need to be efficient, with the support of technology that helps people work effectively from both in and out of their office. Telepresence (video conferencing), Skype for Business, Yammer are some of the technological resources that organisations must invest in.

In my view, it is important for companies to foster a trust-based approach (i.e., a focus on outputs, not presentism). We must give our people the opportunity to deliver excellent client service in a way that also supports their wellbeing.

This can be done by:

Communicating effectively

Embracing different ways of working

Focusing on outputs

Working intelligently

Setting boundaries and clear expectations

Trusting your team

To sum up, we must embrace flexible ways of working and be open to people from contingent, non-contingent workforces with diverse backgrounds and skill sets to move towards a workplace of the future.